I agree that route is not the best translation for rumbo, but I have just realized why it is confusing to people. When I read your dictionary definitions of rumbo I was struck by the wording of number two. The path one intends to follow. Now when you are talking about ships and planes and even philosophically about one's life, that would be course. But if you wanted to find out what path I was going to follow to get to my mother's house, you would ask me about my route. So I looked up course on Dictionary.com. The first two definitions were

a direction or route taken or to be taken.

the path, route, or channel along which anything moves:
the course of a stream.

So then I tried Merriam Webster which had similar definition except for the use of the word route. Now to be honest I have no understanding of what the difference between route and course is supposed to be (I say supposed to because clearly many people do use them synonymously) but it does seem that they are closely related. But the people who know most about setting courses seem to see a difference, so I bow to their expertise. And as for tranlation, ruta is a cognate for route, so that's easy. I generally have found route the best translation for rumba is route, although there are some interesting regional meanings that are unrelated like generosity or even hummingbird in Columbia. Although I don't quite understand the differences, I don't generally find it comfortable swapping them in most cases.

I cannot say definitively, but I believe that Duo got some fresh blood into the Spanish staff this year. There has been a decided cambio de rumbo (change of course) in the Spanish course this year including adding over 20 new units and updating the vocabulary to more common Latin American vocabulary like sándwich instead of emparadado and carro instead of coche. I have some disagreements with a few changes, like adding coger despite its completely inappropriate connotations in the largest Spanish speaking country in the world. But I have been watching comments on this exercise for years, and if they allowed route here, it was only for a small period of time. Route is la ruta. It is a perfect cognate, which makes it always the most appropriate translation. El rumbo is a navigation term, which like many such terms are used fairly loosely by the general public. But there is a distinct difference between the word course and the word route, and rumbo is course.

Even cognates don't always have one to one relationships with English words. Words like rumbo definitely don't. I don't know from what exercise you drew the conclusion that it meant orientation, though it can mean direction. But it's most "classic" translation is probably course.

This word, however, is one of the MANY words on Duo that show why you need to supplement Duo with a good dictionary if your goal is to actually learn and speak Spanish. This is one of those words with unexpected regional meanings. But even with standard meanings, the context and examples a dictionary provides cannot be replaced.

I think you are thinking about the Spanish word orientación. I know in the exercise that is something like El perdió la orientación, their preferred translation is He lost his direction or something like that. The better translation is he lost his bearings. Orientation is essentially a mindset. Direction exists in the physical plane.

To the extent that direction is a synonym to course, it means direction. People who aren't professional navigators use words like course, route and direction fairly loosely. But for those uses of the English word direction for which course is NOT an alternative, the cognate dirección is appropriate. Of course dirección is also used for address.

Are you serious SirM? Route is a planned or plotted course. Direction is direction. "I'm going that way" "I'm going North" etc.
"I'm taking that route" doesn't give you any real direction unless the road itself specifies or you know the direction... :p

Orientación refers to an objets positioning, or where it is pointing at. And it's usally based on the cardinal points. While rumbo implicates movement. It means direction, to where something is heading. Btw it's "Elrumbo"

Also it's incorrect to translate rumbo as ruta (route), as many people are pointing out. Because first, "rumbo" does mean "direction" like the problem suggests, and secondly ruta (route) means the actual path. They're different

Thank you very much. It does help alot. I have given you a lingot. I am hoping that I can be as helpful to you. You said, "While rumbo implicates movement" "Implies" would be a better word choice. While implicate does have the same potential denotation in this case, the connotations from its more common meaning (as to implicate someone in a crime) will make the word sound strange.

Route is perfectly acceptable, however, if you want to get technical, it is related to the English word "rhumb." In navigation a "rhumb line" (loxodrome) is a line that crosses all meridians at the same angle. On a flat map done in Mercator projection a rhumb line is straight.

Roger Hawkins, thanks for that extra context. It may help me visualize a "heading" like a straight line plotted by an airplane or ship, as I will think of a "plumb line," which is a weight attached to a string to get a straight vertical edge started (when hanging wallpaper, for example). I don't know if anyone else will "get" the mental connection between "planning a straight line with a plumb line or not...

I was also confused as to why "route" was not accepted as "route" and "course" mean essentially the same thing to me. After looking up "rumbo" on WordReference, I saw that rumbo can also mean heading. Would it be accurate to say "el rumbo" usually means a "the direction" (as pointing in a particular direction) while "la ruta" is the (possibly winding) route?

I am not sure I follow you exactly, but I think you are close if not already there; <<el rumbo>> is the intended direction, the plan. To say <<Salió con rumbo a Europa>> means he left with plans to go to Europe. To say <<corrijo el rumbo>> means that I am correcting my course, changing my direction. Similarly, <<camina sin rumbo>> means she is just wandering without purpose.

<<La ruta>> is literally the route that your <<rumbo>> takes you down.

Rumbo is often used with directional modifiers and the translation you see for "rumbo al norte" is often "north bound" so it is attached to a physical path such as north bound lane or south bound flight. So while a road is a permanent thing stretching in two directions. The rumbo dictates which way you move along a route.

Hi, Roger H. From all the forum input, it seems "heading" SHOULD be another correct translation. It has implied movement, and generally is a straight line for navigation, both across seas, through the air, and even on foot, until one changes the travel plan. May 3, 2018.

My Collins Essential Spanish Dictionary and Grammar has "El rumbo" translated as route; direction; course; bearing; (fig) course of events etc etc. Is this a Latin American Spanish versus European Spanish issue? I see that "La ruta" means route but that does not necessarily rule out another word also meaning route.

English has a cognate of rumbo, the rhumb. If you have ever looked at an old map you have seen these, they are the radiating lines from various landmarks. The idea was a navigator at that location trying to get to another location across open water would plot his course by following the bearing of the rhumb line, which would either take his vessel to home or another landmark from which to set off on another bearing.

In nearly all examples, el rumbo will refer to something navigational. The exception is in an idiomatic phrase where it is a metaphor.

Thank you so much for this info. I love learning things like that. I get the impression that "el rumbo" might originally have meant "heading," and have been used mostly in navigation by compass, while la ruta would mean the road or the way without necessarily worrying about the compass. Would this be correct?

That is an easier way of remembering the difference, yes. And that distinction in English between heading and route (with the first being the direction to a destination and the latter being the actual path) seems to parallel the Spanish usage exactly. According to the Real Academia Española:

If given the right context, I would expect so, but that translation would only apply to vessels under way.

The problem with expanding the definitions though is that it is hard to know where to stop. Rumbo can also mean a party if you are in Latin America, or a variety of Andes hummingbird. For daily conversation, knowing that it means "direction" most often is probably enough.

This is so wrong. On one hand you tell the readers "rumbo" means the course and confirm it later in another quiz. Now this time you tell me I am wrong and it is direction. You need to fix the mistakes of this app so people can learn proper Spanish and not be so terribly confused.

This section is for user comments and discussion not to address issues with answer specific and the program. To do that you either report using the flag icon. If they didn't accept course, then report it. But to be clear rumbo is also direction. It means course like a ship's course, not a school course, a race course, a meal course or golf course. Each of those is a different word in Spanish. There are few words that have a one to one relationship with a word in another language. Even true cognates don't always share all meanings. This is why you will see different translations from time to time. But when all you see is the noun with its gender any definition of that noun should work. It is the epitome of lack of context.

SpanishDict disagrees with you. They show course and direction, but neither bearing nor heading is shown. Those terms are more specific to a particular point in time. Your course can change both of those

The line connecting the object's consecutive positions on the ground is referred to as the ground track. The track the object was intended to follow is called the route. For ships and aircraft, the route is represented by the great circle line that connects the previous waypoint with the next waypoint. The responsibility of a navigator is to make the track coincide as much as possible with the route. The direction of the route is called the route course. "Course" exceptionally, and arguably erroneously, may also refer to the route, such as in a course deviation indicator, in which case it no longer constitutes an angle but rather a line. The direction of the great circle line that runs from the current position to the next waypoint is called the course to steer, or the bearing to that waypoint. The tracking angle is the angle between the course to steer and the course. The heading is the direction to which the "nose" of the object is pointing, its orientation.

Well I certainly bow to your superior understanding of navigation. But what is your evidence that rumbo means more than course? Even my understanding of your explanation is shaky, but DLE doesn't seem to have any relaxant entries that suggest a different translation, nor have I seen or heard it used on any way that would suggest more.

really not trying to win a discussion, just trying to contribute to the app.
As I said, the concept "rumbo" technically is different from "curso" which should be translated a course.
Generally speaking imo we can be properly translated rumbo as course, heading or bearing.
CURSO - Dirección o trayectoria de un buque.
COURSE - The direction in which a boat is steered.
BEARING:. The bearing to an object from the boat expressed in degrees; as in: The bearing to the lighthouse is 180° magnetic.
HEADING: The course to steer; as in: Change heading to 090°.
RUMBO: Angulo formado entre la línea de crujía y el norte.
CURSO and COURSE refer to a general direction to where one is going (North, South).
RUMBO, HEADING and BEARING refer to a more specific compass reading.
In conclusion, the translation for RUMBO in the App should be COURSE, HEADING or BEARING.

I am not trying to win an argument either. But you still have not answered my question. You have effectively presented the difference between the words. But you have presented no evidence as to why the Spanish word rumbo is better translated as something other than what existing language resources say it is. Again, I am not trying to say you are necessarily wrong. I am just asking what evidence you have about the use or meaning which informed your opinion. Certainly no Duo sentence has enough context to distinguish among various meanings. Is there another dictionary or a a document im Spanish which uses the word rumbo in such a way as to demonstrate that the appropriate meaning is other than course or direction. There are set expressions shown in both dictionary entries I linked to that justify its translation as couse. Hacer rumbo to set a course (Ponerse a navegar con dirección a un punto determinado) Corregir rumbo to correct the course (Reducir a verdadero el que se ha hecho por la indicación de la aguja, sumándole o restándole la variación en combinación con este abatimiento cuando lo hay) Those examples were a combination of entries of the Spanishdict.com definition and the Diccionario de la Lengua Español entry for rumbo that I linked to previously. All I am asking for is a single piece of evidence that gives an alternate or additional meaning of the Spanish word rumbo. All your arguments were about the English words. I did find independent evidence of bearing being a good translation of rumbo on Spanishdict.com. I am just saying that I want evidence of the use of a Spanish word in a Spanish sentence or from a Spanish language or bilingual dictionary or even what Spanish speaking navigators said to you that justify a certain translation.

In many cases, direction and course can be used somewhat interchangeably. But it you are simply talking north, south, east and west, that is dirección. If you are talking ship navigation, that is rumbo. Basically if course and direction both could work, use rumbo. If course wouldn't work, use dirección.

You will note that each word has a non related meaning. Dirección also means address which is a common use. Much less common, rumbo also means hummingbird, but you may never hear that if you don't visit Columbia. There are several Spanish words for Hummingbird, and chupaflor is also used there.

No. That would be something like señal de dirección or señal de tráfico. Rumbo is best understood by the word course when you think of a ships course. It can also used for the related word bearing. We often use direction for this, but is more toward a goal and course more involves all the places you are while underway.

But Duo's typo algorithm is far from perfect. If your first letter is wrong, for example, it won't generally see it as a type. And of course if it happens to be close to another word in Spanish or English then that's also probably not going to be recognized. So enjoy it when it works but recognize it probably won't always.

This is a bad translation, because neither the words direction or course match the apparent meaning of rumbo. There is no English term "the course" that means anything like this Spanish word. If I see the English words "the course," it means a class one would take in school. I think the word rumbo, as they use it here, means something like a a long term plan, a strategy, or a course of action.

I am not sure what you mean by "apparent meaning. There are no context clues when you have simply a noun and a definite article. The course that rumbo refers to is a nautical course, not an academic one. The best way to figure out the meaning of a word is to use a dictionary. If you look at Spanishdict.com's extensive definition you will see that it has nothing to do with long term plans per se, but it does assume some such plans I guess when you talk about the course of someone's life.

Yes, but realistically when someone simply says "a course" few people would think this refers to a nautical course. Nautical course is a relatively rare way of using the word course. A far more common use is a course you take at the university. Without more the context in a sentence, the word course in English might mean, for example, a course of study (like a major in Spanish), a course of direction (route), a course of a meal (second course). A nautical course is one of the last meanings someone would typically think of. So just translating el rumbo as "the course" is ambiguous.

A great percentage of Duo sentences are potentially ambiguous due to the lack of context. But Duo's goal is not to teach the best possible translation, but rather to teach the Spanish word. So a translation that fits the dictionary definition, especially with only a noun and a definite article. That shows that you know the Spanish word. Reading context where there is none is counterproductive to language learning because it is you, and not the language, which is providing the meaning.

I agree, but Duo's format is such that it is difficult to teach some words which are fairly common but harder to determine a strict definition. But all language students should have access to and take full advantage of a good bilingual dictionary. I use Spanishdict.com. It is free, has detailed definitions with examples, complete verb conjugations and also has grammar explanations and quizzes.

Of course as you advance, you should regularly attempt to read the RAE DLE definitions in Spanish. Being able to be taught words and grammar from within Spanish is the beginning of fluency. But as you are beginning it may well be a struggle.

Your comment is not quite accurate. Although the word direction is used in the definition of rumbo in the DLE, the definition listed is much too specific and qualified to say that it is equivalent to simply direction.

According to the DLE, rumbo means

Direction considered or plotted in the plane of the horizon, and mainly any of those included in the nautical rose.

M. Way and path that someone intends to follow in what he attempts or tries.

I am not sure what you are saying with "before the test". Duo's methodology is mostly to model sentences. Only fairly recently and only in some languages do they really have any "instruction" per se. The tests are the point. Of course if you are trying to test out of levels and having problems, then slowing down would be better. Most units have a lot more exercises then anyone completes at any level. So reviewing what you have learned using the review feature is helpful. It will review those items which Duo thinks you need to review. It is almost more helpful NOT to know what you are supposed to be reviewing sometimes. I also recommend that you don't consider the exercises as tests and "cheat". I find it often is useful to leave Duo mid exercise to look something up in the dictionary or Google a grammar point. It tends to stick with me better, and that is the point. Of course it may not work the same way for you, it's just a suggestion.

An additional note. You will notice that I used review and not revise in my comments. When you are talking to a quite American audience you might have an issue with people understanding your use of the word revise. In American English, revise is not ever the same as review. To revise always includes changing something in American English. It wasn't actually until I learned the Spanish verb revisar that I found out it was different in British English, and more like revisar.

That is the downside to saying that they are teaching Latin American Spanish. Latin America has many varieties of Spanish just as there are many variations of English within the United States let alone US and Canada. Word usage varies by region, age group and subculture or social set. Duo teaches mostly Mexican Spanish as reflected by the pyramid logo and what I can tell by the word usage. There are a few exceptions like preferring coche to carro, but it is fairly consistent. It does make sense that way since Mexico has by far the most Spanish speakers, followed (as of 2015) by the US whose greatest Spanish language country of origin is Mexico. But I do wish that there were a forum to find out what the differences are. I do know that Mexicans and Puerto Ricans can get into great trouble by using their slang with each other.

Yes, perhaps, if they bothered to tell us exactly what it was that they typed that was marked wrong. But just coming here and saying, "It marked me wrong and it shouldn't have" is like walking into a store and telling an associate, "I need things." It doesn't help you find what you're looking for, and the associate has no idea how to help you if you give them no information.